


the greatest love stories never end happily

by yodalorian



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Cave of Two Lovers, F/M, Inspired by Romeo and Juliet, Kinda, Mind Control, Somewhat Graphic Violence, Suicidal Thoughts, Tragic Romance, honestly this was never gonna go well when it starts with aang dying, oma and shu parallels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:36:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28317606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yodalorian/pseuds/yodalorian
Summary: "“I don’t know,” he said. “But I’m scared of what might happen. When the comet comes...I might not be myself.” He looked at the flames coiling in his palm like they were suddenly a serpent that might lash out at any moment.Katara clasped his face in her hands. “I’m not scared of you, Zuko.”A pained look crossed his face. “Maybe you should be.""Sozin's Comet comes and brings tragedy in its wake.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33
Collections: Gifts for Friends





	the greatest love stories never end happily

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shxpwrecked](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shxpwrecked/gifts).



> hope this is depressing enough for you, cat
> 
> romeo and juliet and wandavision parallels for maximum tragedy

Everything changed when Aang died.

Katara didn’t think she would ever forget it. The way his body fell after being struck down by Azula’s lightning, like a puppet whose strings had suddenly been cut. The sickening crash as he collapsed to the ground like a broken doll. How she had been too far away to do anything. Absolutely helpless, just like when her mother died.

The sight of Aang’s limp body sprawled on the ground was burned into her memory. The rest of it was a blur. Azula’s manic cackle, the stricken look on Zuko’s face, Iroh shouting for her to run. Somehow, she made it out of those catacombs. And somehow, she found Zuko by her side when she did.

Once again, she was the one who survived. But things didn’t get better. Without Aang, they all fell apart in their own little ways.

Momo flew away and never came back. Appa refused to fly. Toph retreated back into her shell, both figuratively and literally, and stopped speaking to anyone. Sokka seethed with cold fury. And with no one else to aim it at, he focused it on Zuko.

Katara didn’t know how to explain that she had seen a different side of Zuko. A soft-spoken side that closed his eyes when she touched his scar. Sometimes, she wondered if all of that had just been a dream among glittering crystals in dark caves. But without the Avatar, Team Avatar was a team only in name, and eventually Katara and Zuko struck out on their own.

They lived as fugitives. Both the Fire Nation and enemies of the Fire Nation would see them as traitors, consorting with the enemy. They simply moved from village to village, never staying for more than a week. Sozin’s Comet loomed over them, inching closer, but without Aang, there was nothing they could do. They simply stayed together, taking all the time they could have, and waited for the end.

Eventually, their time ran out. The sky burned smoky orange. They ran, not knowing where to go. Somehow though, they found themselves in a place Katara recognized. The mountain range where the Cave of Two Lovers descended into the depths. They huddled in the darkness as ash trickled down like snow.

“Come on,” Zuko mumbled. Flames danced across his palm, casting a shaky light. “It’ll be safer farther inside.”

“Are you sure? I got lost the last time I was here.”

He took her hand. “I’d rather get lost with you.”

They walked deeper into the twisting labyrinth, somehow finding their way. Eventually, they reached the very center. The Tomb of Two Lovers.

Zuko lifted his flaming hand, weakly illuminating the two stone sarcophagi in the center of the room, lying side by side, and the two crouching statues at the far end of the chamber. “What is this place?”

Katara traced the script engraved into the walls with her finger. “You’ve never heard the legend of Oma and Shu?”

“They don’t teach Earth Kingdom history much in the Fire Nation.”

She moved towards the statues of the two lovers. They leaned towards each other, lips almost touching, but not quite. Forever reaching out to embrace each other but never quite making it. 

“They were lovers who couldn’t be together because of a war between their villages. So they learned earthbending to create these tunnels and meet in secret. But one day, Shu was killed in the war. Oma nearly destroyed the villages in her grief and fury.”

Zuko stood next to her. “That’s not a very happy ending.”

She just shrugged. “The greatest love stories never end happily.” A long moment passed in silence.

“Katara.” The firelight from his fingers cast strange, twisting shadows across his face. “There’s something I need to ask you to do.”

“What?”

He stared into his fire for a long moment. “There are legends. Rumors, really. That Sozin’s Comet is cursed.” 

“Cursed?”

“How could it not be, when it has massacred a nation? The Fire Sages warned that when the comet returns again, it might not just empower firebending. It might...change us.”

Zuko’s tone was beginning to scare her. “What do you mean?”

He finally looked at her. His eyes glowed in the weak light. She’d always loved that about him. Zuko didn’t have the creepily unnatural golden eyes of the rest of his family. His eyes were warm, rich brown. But now, they were haunting.

“I don’t know,” he said. “But I’m scared of what might happen. When the comet comes...I might not be myself.” He looked at the flames coiling in his palm like they were suddenly a serpent that might lash out at any moment.

Katara clasped his face in her hands. “I’m not scared of you, Zuko.”

A pained look crossed his face. “Maybe you should be. Look, just promise me...promise me you’ll protect yourself.”

“I’m not fighting you.”

“Promise me!” His voice broke with desperation. He gripped her wrists. “If I hurt you...I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”

Katara was a little scared by the panic on his face. “Alright. I promise.” She brushed a tear from his cheek. “Let’s not talk about that right now.”

They sat under the statues of the two lovers, Katara in Zuko’s arms. She felt him breathe and tried to cement the warmth of his body against hers in her memory. If she closed her eyes, she could maybe pretend that they were in the bed they shared, perhaps waking together at dawn or falling asleep at each other’s side. Anywhere but the cold, dark tomb of doomed lovers. Some place where they couldn’t feel the unstoppable approach of the comet.

But they could both feel it, like an iron weight hanging over them. The fire in Zuko’s palm suddenly flared, and he quickly extinguished it. The darkness rushed in. His arms tightened around her.

Katara could feel Zuko’s heart hammering in his chest, like her own.  _ It’s going to be okay. It’ll pass soon.  _ She didn’t know who she was trying to convince.

His body suddenly went rigid. “Zuko?” Katara whispered. She peered into his face.

Harsh gold stared back. 

“Zuko.” She tried to keep her voice calm, but it still trembled. “Come on. Listen to me.”

Her skin prickled as the temperature shot up. Katara barely managed to scramble away from him in time as a wave of flame bloomed between them.

“Zuko!” But it was like he couldn’t hear her. His face contorted with pain as he muttered incoherently to himself. The angry golden eyes focused on her. 

She ducked behind one of the sarcophagi as another blast of fire rolled over it, baking the stone. “Snap out of it!” she yelled. “I don’t want to fight you.”

She ran as the sarcophagus exploded into a fireball, sending shrapnel flying. Desperately, she reached out, sensing the trickles of groundwater all around her. She called out to each tiny stream, and they seeped out of the stone, collecting around her.

Katara flung out her arm and the water shot towards Zuko, slamming him against the far wall and hardening into ice. Zuko growled and struggled, but was restrained, at least temporarily. 

“Listen to me.” She tried to speak firmly, but it was far more painful to see him like this than she realized it would be. All the rage and pain he had worked so hard to overcome, flooding back. “This isn’t you. I know this isn’t you.”

For a moment, his face softened. Then the ice shattered with the force of a lightning bolt. 

Katara was barely able to fend off his attacks, not while he was fueled by a comet. A firestorm swirled around him, so hot that her water was being instantaneously vaporized. The tomb was becoming suffocating. 

Katara gasped, out of breath. All of her water was gone. Zuko still strode towards her, eyes blazing. In the harsh light, he looked like a stranger. 

She caught her foot on a pebble and fell onto her back. In a flash, Zuko was on top of her, hand clamped around her throat. Black spots danced in her vision.  _ “Please.”  _ Flames hissed in his hand as they focused into a dagger.

Tears streamed down her face as she stared up at him. It broke her heart to see the face she loved now terrifyingly furious. The lips she had tasted now in a grimace. His fingers tightened around her throat as his golden eyes narrowed. He was so focused on her that he didn’t notice the tears curling off her cheeks, collecting in her hand, solidifying into a wicked sharp shard of ice.

With the last bit of strength she had left, she raised the blade of ice and drove it towards Zuko’s heart. His eyes widened as the tip pierced the skin, a thin trail of blood staining the shard’s crystalline surface. Katara’s hand trembled. She couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t. 

Zuko blinked, and suddenly his eyes were warm brown once more. A rushing feeling filled Katara’s chest.

His eyes flicked around wildly, but they focused on her once more. “Do it, Katara.” His voice was husky and weary. “You have to do it.”

“No.”

“Please.” A tear slid down his cheek. “I can’t hold this much longer. I...I can feel myself losing control.”

Katara shook her head numbly. “I can’t.”

“In the end, I don’t want to be the monster they tried to make me.” Zuko’s voice broke. His eyes shone with desperation. “Please, Katara, you have to.”

The cold of the knife bit into her hand, but she could neither push it farther in or drop it. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Somehow, he managed to smile. “You could never hurt me.”

Just as the gold began to seep into his irises once again, Zuko took her hand and plunged the blade into his gut. Katara screamed. He toppled off of her.

“No! No no no please spirits please no--” Katara tore the ice shard away, but it was deep crimson now. She frantically pressed her hands to the wound, but it was impossible to stop the bleeding. Warmth gushed forward, painting her hands. She tried to heal, but her hands were shaking too badly and she had no water left and everything was spinning around her.

“It’s alright,” Zuko whispered. He was already deathly pale. “At least...at least I know you sur-survived…”

“Stay with me,” Katara sobbed. “I can’t live without you.”

He reached up trembling fingers and lightly brushed her cheek. His eyes were far away.

“I’m sorry.” Katara didn’t know what she was apologizing for, but someone needed to. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“Don’t blame yourself. It’s not your fault.” Zuko drew in a rattling, slow breath. “I love you.”

Katara felt his heart grow still.

She kissed his cold lips. They would never kiss her back again. She closed his deep brown eyes. They would never sparkle with warmth again. Katara collapsed over him and dissolved into her screaming, raging, suffocating flood of grief.

But he was right. It wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t his either. They had been born cursed, into a world of hatred and strife and war. Their love was bright, but the darkness overcame it in the end.

The greatest love stories never end happily.

* * *

Some say the caves are haunted. Others scoff at old ghost stories.

Still, everyone knows that great tragedies have occurred over its cursed stones. Love and death go hand in hand.

Villagers report sightings of an old witch, wasting away, forever grieving a lover. Others say that her body has already decayed and only her spirit lingers, unable to move on, unwilling to abandon his bones. The foolhardy explorers who venture into the caves and manage to come back ramble about skeletons entangled in an embrace in the dust.

But everyone hears the eerie howls that echo through the mountains at night. And a century later, when Sozin’s Comet sheds its scarlet light over the world once more, they swear that caves weep blood.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/jedioncer?lang=en)  
> to hear me yell about other dumb things


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